


Rain Check

by shinysylver



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Angst, Cabin Fic, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-05-02
Updated: 2011-05-02
Packaged: 2017-10-18 21:15:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/193382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shinysylver/pseuds/shinysylver
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>There was a reason he didn’t go hiking but here he was in the middle of nowhere because he wanted to be close to Steve. Damn it he was worse than Grace. His nine-year old daughter had more sense when it came to crushes than he did.</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	Rain Check

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own Hawaii Five-0.
> 
> I wrote hurt/comfort cabin!fic.I blame the non-stop storms that have been pummeling my area for the past week. Many thanks to [](http://jesseofthenorth.livejournal.com/profile)[**jesseofthenorth**](http://jesseofthenorth.livejournal.com/) for a beta-ing this and holding my hand through the entire process. And also thanks to [](http://michele659.livejournal.com/profile)[**michele659**](http://michele659.livejournal.com/) for cheer leading and correcting my geography.

“Up for a beer?” Danny asked hopefully as they pulled into the HPD parking lot. It was barely mid afternoon Friday and with Grace visiting her grandparents in England he wasn’t looking forward to a long, lonely weekend.

“Since we’ve got some time, I was going to meet Jenna to go over her analysis of the recent Yakuza activity,” Steve replied. “Rain check?”

Danny tensed his jaw and did his best to sound nonchalant. “Sure.”

Once Steve had parked and gotten out, Danny moved over to the driver’s seat and watched Steve get in his truck and leave the parking lot in the direction of the hotel that Agent Kaye lived in. He resisted the urge to follow him and instead he sighed and pulled out himself, turning toward his own apartment.

They had always gotten beers together after a case. It didn't matter if they went out to a restaurant, relaxed on Steve's lanai, or just stayed late in the office they had always shared a beer or three. It was tradition. It was a tradition that Danny didn’t realize how much he appreciated until it was gone.

The first time Steve had skipped out was a month ago. He’d made an excuse that he had to meet Agent Kaye to discuss something about the Wo Fat case. Danny had waved him off, because that case was much more important than a few beers. But before long Steve was begging off after every case and Danny was spending more and more of his evenings alone in his empty apartment watching hockey fights and annoyingly cute cats on YouTube.

It wasn’t just the celebratory beers either. Steve had stopped showing up to pick Danny up for impromptu hikes on their days off and he hadn’t called him to go for a ride in that junk heap he was restoring in weeks either. The worst part was that when Danny had taken matters into his own hands and swung by Steve’s house early one Saturday morning, he hadn’t been there. So after a few weeks of rejections, Danny had pretty much stopped trying.

He knew that the Wo Fat case was becoming an obsession for Steve, that much had become obvious and he couldn’t really blame him for it. But Danny was starting to suspect that there was more going on between Steve and Agent Kaye than casework and he hated that it bothered him as much as it did. He hadn’t realized how much he had come to rely on Steve as more than a partner until he wasn’t there anymore. Steve was his friend and, other than Grace, he was the closest thing Danny had to family on this damn island.

But he would be lying to himself if he pretended that that was all it was. Danny was filled with an irrational hatred for Jenna Kaye. He barely knew the woman but the mere mention of her name made him want to hit something. That coupled with the gnawing ache in his stomach every time he looked at Steve made it pretty obvious that he was jealous and it wasn’t just a mild “I miss my friend” kind of jealousy. It was the kind of bone deep, heart wrenching jealousy that he had only experienced one other time: when he had watched Rachel with Stan shortly after the divorce.

Danny parked in front of his apartment and pounded the wheel in frustration. The idea that he liked a man, hell maybe even loved a man, wasn’t exactly foreign to him. He’d long ago realized that his sexuality was a fluid thing. Much more fluid than any of his childhood friends, a fact which had been made perfectly clear during one extremely awkward summer at middle school baseball camp. And if he’d had any lingering doubts, well they had been cleared right up by a few very fun nights at a gay bar in New York City during college.

But, a few one night stands in college aside, he’d never actually dated another man. Danny had been young and afraid of disappointing his father, so once he had graduated college he’d thrown himself into his work. He had focused all of his energy into rising through the ranks quickly and making detective. If Rachel hadn’t literally crashed into him he might not have dated anyone.

When he’d found Rachel it had been like a gift. He had fallen head over heels in love with her and she was everything he was expected to want. However, ten years and a messy divorce later he wasn’t really concerned about expectations and appearances any longer. And he wasn’t afraid of disappointing his father any more either. Of course, the five thousand miles between Hawaii and New Jersey may have helped with that. But at this point in his life if he found someone he could love he wasn’t going to be too concerned about their gender. He was his own man now and at peace with his sexuality.

Danny stared at the building in front of him but couldn’t bear the thought of one more night spent isolated in that apartment. He didn’t even think of it as “home” because the only time it felt that way was when Grace was there. Acting on impulse, he put the car in reverse and headed out. He had no idea where he was going; just that he had to get away. Driving was soothing. Ever since he’d gotten his license, he’d found that an open road equaled freedom and the act of focusing on the road was almost hypnotic.

He had been driving aimlessly for a while when he stopped at a light and looked out the window. He was in front of the pawn shop that Steve had blown up with a grenade. He shook his head. Everything in the city seemed to remind him of Steve and an awful lot of those memories involved explosions. How in the world had he fallen for that man? But there wasn’t any doubt that he had. Of course, accepting that he liked Steve wasn’t the same as wanting to date him. Not that it mattered anyway, whether or not _he_ liked Steve the man had only been with women since he’d known him and was probably straight. That didn’t mean that Danny couldn’t miss him though.

Danny turned out of town, needing more open roads and fewer stop lights. Fewer memories would be nice too. Once he made it past the suburbs he pressed down hard on the gas pedal, shooting forward. It felt a little bit like running but he didn’t care.

He hated that he missed Steve. It made him feel weak, but he did. Danny was used to Steve spending time with Catherine, and those nights hadn’t bothered him--much--because it had been clear that his relationship with her was mostly sexual, but Agent Kaye was different. Steve and Kaye had a lot in common. They had both experienced profound loss at the hands of the same man and because of that had an immediate closeness that Danny could never be a part of. He used to be Steve’s go to person but now it seemed like Kaye was.

That was the worst part. The fact that Steve didn’t seem to need his friendship anymore. He could live with unrequited feelings but to not have Steve as his friend was worse. Danny didn’t have many friends on this island. The other police officers weren’t fond of him. First he’d been the haole who refused to conform and then he’d been placed on the task force which had led to jealously. The last straw had been Meka’s murder. That case had burned the last of his bridges at HPD. They would work with him but none of them wanted to go out for a beer after work.

He sighed. Chin and Kono were great but they had their own family and friends on the island. Even Chin still had friends--not on the force--who he spent much of his free time with. They always tried to include him but it wasn’t the same. He and Steve had gotten each other. They’d been each other’s support.

Before he knew it he had driven all the way out to the Ko’olau Range where he had gone hiking with Steve a couple of months ago. He laughed bitterly. Of course he had managed to find yet another place that reminded him of Steve. Apparently the island was too small to escape him.

Danny parked at the base of the trail--if you could call it that--that they had taken on their hike and stared at the trees. This was the last place that he’d really spent time with Steve. He turned off the car and got out. He was going up there again. He knew it was crazy but he’d never felt as close to Steve as he had on that hike and since he couldn’t escape his memories he might as well wallow in a good one. Steve might associate this place with his father but Danny associated it with Steve. He was fully prepared to admit that he was being an idiot and that too much time by himself had likely driven him round the bend but he was past caring.

He opened the trunk and changed into the ratty pair of tennis shoes that he kept on hand in case they got a case at a dump--nothing ruined a nice pair of shoes like digging around in a trash heap--and took off his tie. He grabbed the old backpack he kept in case of emergencies out of the trunk. It didn’t have much in it but it did have a basic first aid kit, a couple of bottles of water, some beef jerky, and a few road flares.

Danny knew he wasn’t prepared for a solo hike, but he figured it was still several hours until dark and he wasn’t planning to go very far anyway. Just far enough to see that gorgeous view Steve had shared with him. He may have complained about it at the time but he had actually appreciated it.

He might be acting impulsive, reckless, and generally Steve-like but Danny wasn’t a complete idiot. He dug around in his pocket for his cell phone. He knew that if something happened he wouldn’t have cell signal so he shot off a quick text to Kono telling her where he was going just in case something came up or, heaven forbid, some heretofore unheard of Hawaiian beast decided to eat him. With that accomplished he grabbed his bag and set off up the trail doing his best to remember the path that Steve had taken.

**

Steve frowned as Jenna droned on and on about the illegal fishing businesses that the Yakuza were using to smuggle in designer drugs from Japan. It wasn’t really anything out of the ordinary for the Yakuza and didn’t appear to have anything directly to do with Wo Fat.

He pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to fend off a headache. “Is this all you have.”

“All I have?” She asked in a tight voice. “This is weeks worth of data collection gleaned from--”

“I know,” Steve interrupted. “I just don’t think it has anything to do with Wo Fat.”

“Maybe not yet,” Jenna acknowledged. “But he’s worked with the Yakuza before and that’s our best bet to catch him.”

She was probably right, and since he didn’t have any better ideas, Steve inclined his head and gestured for her to continue her briefing. She frowned at him but returned to her lecture outlining which fishing boats were most likely being used in the operation.

It had been like this for weeks. Jenna was doing everything she could but Wo Fat had gone to ground making himself scarce, and it wasn’t like he had been obvious to start with. Other than the confrontation at the Chinese restaurant he had stayed well outside of the limelight preferring to work through others. This whole operation was worse than when he had tracked Hesse. Hesse had made mistakes and left bread crumbs to follow. Wo Fat wasn’t that careless.

Steve was really starting to wish that he’d just taken the night off and gone home for beers with Danny. It would be nice to fire up the grill and find a baseball game on TV to watch with him. He wasn’t really a big baseball fan but Danny was and he enjoyed watching him light up as he recited all of those ridiculous stats. It had been a long time since they’d had a night like that and Steve was really starting to miss them.

He glanced at his watch. It was still early; early enough that he could cut this short and swing by to pick Danny up.

“Jenna,” he interrupted her. “Do you think you could just send me the important data? I have somewhere I have to be.”

He could tell Jenna disapproved but he didn’t care and ten minutes later he pulled into Danny’s apartment complex. He looked around and was surprised to see that the Camaro wasn’t there.  
Steve dug his phone out of his pocket and tried calling Danny’s cell but it went straight to voice mail.

“Hey, Danny, I cut it short with Jenna tonight so if you still want that beer come on by the house.” Steve said glancing up at the dark clouds on the horizon. “I was going to grill but it looks like a storm is coming so we can order a pizza--no pineapple, I know--and watch that play off game you mentioned this morning.”

Steve ended the call and started back towards his house. He wondered where Danny had gone that he had turned his phone off. Danny never turned his phone off. It went against every instinct he had as a policeman. Something was up and Steve didn’t like not knowing what it was.

**

Danny collapsed in the grass and gazed out over the mountains. He had finally made it up to the spot Steve had shown him. It had taken him a lot longer than he had expected because he’d gotten turned around several times. He’d been sure he knew where he was going but apparently running through the wilderness trying to keep up with Steve had kept him from really taking note of his surroundings. But he had finally made it.

The mountains really were breath taking. He might not be much of a nature person but he could see the appeal of views like this. In some ways it reminded him of the awe he experienced the first time he went up in the Empire State Building at night and saw the city spread out before him like a sea of lights. He had been a kid, and his dad had taken him and Matt up there after a Yankees game. The only difference was that every time he went back up there the view was different because the city was always changing. This view was immutable.

He dug a water bottle out of his bag and leaned back. Danny closed his eyes and remembered the look on Steve’s face when he had shared this place with him. The openness on his face when he’d talked about his father. That was when Danny had known. When he’d first realized how very much Steve meant to him. He had been sure that they had been having a moment. He’d even thought that maybe Steve had felt the same way about him but then all of the drama with the body and the fall had happened. Nothing ruined a mood like a dead body.

Danny sighed. He didn’t want to think about that. Steve’s fall had terrified him. He took a deep breath and cleared his mind. The exertion of the hike made it easy to relax and he was able to just enjoy the peacefulness.

He wasn’t sure how long he had been lying there in an almost meditative trance when he started shivering. Shivering was not normal in the tropics but the wind was really picking up. He rubbed his hands briskly over his arms and sat up to look around.

“Shit,” He muttered as he caught sight of the roiling black clouds that seemed to be coming in fast. He could see flashes of lightning streaking through them and he quickly stood up, grabbing his bag. He needed to get down out of the mountains before the storm hit or he was going to be in real trouble.

Danny took off at a run, dodging around trees as fast as he could, but unfortunately he hadn’t gotten far before the first few fat drops of water began to fall. Before long the skies had opened up in a torrential downpour and Danny had to drastically slow his pace to avoid slipping on the muddy path. Steve hadn’t been kidding when he’d said that this place turned into one big mudslide when it rained.

He kept moving for about ten minutes but it was getting harder and harder to keep his footing. When the rain started coming down so hard that he couldn’t even see his hand in front of his face, he decided that it was too dangerous to blindly keep going. He moved off of the path and under a tree that was large enough to block some of the rainfall. Since he was soaked through already, he sat down in the mud at the base of the tree to wait the storm out. Hopefully it wouldn’t last long and he could still get back down to the car before dark.

**

Steve was about to give up on Danny joining him when his phone rang.

“Where are you?” he asked without bothering to look at the screen.

“Boss?” Kono asked confused.

“Oh. Sorry Kono, I thought you were someone else,” Steve answered. He got up and walked over to the window, pulling the curtain back to watch the lightning arc across the sky. “What’s up?”

“Well,” Kono said hesitantly. “I was hoping you’d heard from Danny.”

“I haven’t seen him since he dropped me at my truck.”

“I was afraid of that,” Kono sighed. “He left a message for me that he was going hiking up in the Ko’olau Range.”

“What?” Steve exclaimed. “Why the hell would he go up there?”

“I don’t know,” Kono replied. “He didn’t say.”

“But he hates hiking. And the wilderness.” Steve rubbed at his temple. “Kono, why didn’t he tell me.”

Kono hesitated. “I don’t know, boss.”

Steve frowned at her hesitation. “What aren’t you telling me?”

She sighed. “You haven’t exactly been available lately.”

Steve opened his mouth to respond when a loud crack of thunder shook the house. “Kono, it’s pouring.”

“He must not have realized that a storm was coming. I didn’t get the text until just now, or I could have stopped him,” Kono apologized.

“It’s not your fault,” Steve said, already beginning to gather a bag of supplies. “I’m going up there. Get me a location on his car and monitor his cell phone. Triangulate it if you can.”

“Of course,” Kono said. “Be careful.”

“I’m always careful,” Steve said as he hung up the phone.

Steve had no idea why Danny would have gone up there. He hated hiking, hell he hated just about anything that had to do with the outdoors. It wasn’t like him and that worried Steve almost as much as the storm did. For Danny to have impulsively gone out into the wilderness by himself something had to be wrong.

Steve wished more than ever that he had taken Danny up on that beer earlier. Now that he thought back on it, Danny had seemed off this afternoon. He had seemed tired, worn out, and he hadn’t been arguing as much as usual. Almost like he didn’t have the energy left to fight with Steve.

Surely, if something was wrong Danny would have told him. But Kono was right. The more he thought about it the more he realized how unavailable he’d been. He’d barely even talked to Danny about anything important in the last several weeks. Their conversations had been almost all business. When had that happened? Steve’s stomach dropped as he thought about all the times he’d given Danny a rain check in the last month. This certainly wasn’t Kono’s fault but he was starting to think it might be his. He had told Danny that he wasn’t alone on this island and then he had started brushing him off.

Steve tugged on his boot laces. Now was not the time to worry about this. He had to get to Danny before the trails started washing out. He used his military training to clear his mind and focused on the task before him. He couldn’t afford to fail.

**

Danny wasn’t sure how long he had been sitting in the mud. It felt like hours but it was impossible to tell. The clouds had completely blocked out the light and his cell phone had gotten drenched and stopped working. The only thing he knew was that it had been long enough that he was completely soaked through and his fingers were pruny.

Danny hugged his knees, shivering uncontrollably. He had never imagined that he could be this cold on a fucking tropical island. The trees had managed to block some of the rain for a while but the wind had picked up and was blowing the rain horizontally. If it didn’t let up soon he might very well get hypothermia and who would have thought that was possible?

He laughed bitterly. Of course he would be the one person who left the Northeast only to freeze to death in Hawaii. Danny burrowed his head in his arms, trying to keep the water out of his face. He really didn’t know why these things always happened to him.

“—ny!”

Danny lifted his head. That didn’t sound like the storm. The wind and rain had been a constant roar in his ears but that had sounded almost like a voice. He looked around and strained his ears but couldn’t make anything out. It must have been his imagination and wasn’t that just great?

Danny couldn’t stand to sit in the muck waiting any longer. The path might be dangerous but so was staying here, especially if he was starting to hallucinate voices. He let go of his knees and tried to get up. It was hard to move, his joints were stiff and his feet were numb. Between his sore joints and the slippery mud it took him three tries to get upright and he had to grab onto the tree behind him to stay that way.

He tried to take a step forward but his shoes were like lead weights attached to his feet and his pants were so heavy with rain and mud that they were barely being kept up by his belt. He leaned back against the tree to steady himself. There was no way that he was going to be able to make it down the slippery path like this.

“Danny!”

There! Surely that wasn’t his imagination.

“Here!” he yelled. “Here! Damn it!”

Danny paused a moment to listen before continuing to shout. He yelled until his voice was nearly gone but there was no response. What did he expect? Kono was the only one that had any idea where he was--if she had seen his message--and even if someone was looking for him it was a large area. He had to be realistic. No one was going to rescue him. He had gotten himself into this mess and he had to get himself out of it.

He took a deep breath and started forward, forcing one foot in front of the other. Each step was hard but he managed to stumble and slide along in a downward direction. At this point he didn’t care about finding the car so much as finding people or at least a shelter. As long as he was moving down the mountain he figured he was doing okay.

He had managed to make it about twenty feet down the trail when his foot slipped out from under him and he fell hard, twisting his knee on the way down. He winced at the searing pain and bit his lip to keep from crying out. He’d felt the now familiar tearing in his knee and knew that he wouldn’t be able to get up again.

He lay back in the mud and covered his eyes with his arm. This was all his own fault. If he hadn’t been such an absolute idiot he wouldn’t be here right now. There was a reason he didn’t go hiking but here he was in the middle of nowhere because he wanted to be close to Steve. Damn it he was worse than Grace. His nine-year old daughter had more sense when it came to crushes than he did.

The thought of Grace made his heart ache. Here he was stranded in the middle of nowhere during the storm of the century and there was a very good chance he wasn’t going to survive the night. He’d never get to see his Grace again. She’d grow up without a father all because he wanted to see a pretty view.

Danny hadn’t imagined he’d go out like this but he’d always known that there was chance he would die young. It was one of the things that all police men had to come to terms with and once he’d been made Steve’s partner he’d had to come to terms with it all over again.

He clenched his fists. The man was a menace. Steve had come into his life and turned it all upside down. He’d gotten him shot on the first day for heaven’s sake. That really should have been a sign. Danny should have refused the task force--taken Chin’s old security guard job if he’d had to--and stayed as far away from Steve as he could. Now it was too late.

“Danny!”

This time the voice sounded closer and he was able to recognize it. It sounded like Steve, but it couldn’t be. His imagination had to be conspiring with the wind to play a cruel joke on him. Steve had no idea he was here. It had to be in his head. He bit his lip and kept his mouth shut. He was through making himself into fool over that man.

“Danny!”

There it was again. The wind had let up just enough that he could hear over the roaring and the voice really did sound like Steve. He sighed. He really didn’t have anything to lose; after all he’d lost his dignity hours ago.

“Here!” he called hoarsely.

“Danny!” The voice was more intense and much closer.

“Here!” he repeated. He kept his eyes covered; not daring to look and be disappointed when there was no one there.

He nearly jumped when he felt hands skimming his body. He moved his arm and saw Steve kneeling beside him.

“Copping a feel?” he muttered, not quite trusting his senses. There was still a very good chance that he was delirious and none of this was real.

“Checking for injuries,” Steve answered as he continued to inspect Danny’s body.

When Steve’s hands probed Danny’s knee he hissed at the sharp pain. The pain more than anything convinced him that this was probably not a hallucination.

“Do you mind?” he asked gritting his teeth at the throbbing.

“What happened?” Steve asked as he inspected the knee more cautiously.

“What do you think happened?” Danny might have been grateful to see Steve but he was also angry. He was angry at Steve, angry at himself, angry at the whole fucking world and at the moment his injured pride was taking an even worse blow. Steve finding him was so much worse than Kono or Chin. “I was out for a mid-afternoon stroll and I forgot my Ark at home. I hate when that happens.”

“Danny…” Steve said quietly looking at his face for the first time.

The concern in Steve’s eyes twisted Danny’s stomach. Steve didn’t deserve his anger. It wasn’t Steve’s fault that Danny had gone and developed feelings for him. He sighed. “I twisted my knee. I’m pretty sure I tore the ACL again.”

“Can you walk?” Steve asked.

“I don’t think so,” Danny admitted. “Not without help.”

“Okay.”

Steve helped Danny into a sitting position and then moved around behind him. He slid his arms under Danny’s and lifted him straight up and onto his one good foot. Once Danny was standing, Steve moved to the side with his bum knee and grabbed his arm, holding him steady.

“There’s no way I can make it all the way down like this,” Danny said quietly, hating to admit the weakness. “Not with all the mud.”

“There’s an old hunting outpost near here,” Steve said. “It should be dry and we can wait out the storm.”

“You had me at dry.” Danny forced a grin.

Steve’s idea of nearby was very different from Danny’s. Each step they took jarred his knee sending waves of pain through his body. Before long, Steve was having to half carry him and he would have complained about the indignity of it all if he wasn’t enjoying the warmth that was radiating off of Steve.

When they finally exited the trees into a small clearing he saw the outpost. It looked like a small wooden shed, not much bigger than the one he’d had in his backyard in New Jersey. He sighed, it was going to be close quarters but at least it would be dry.

Steve gently set Danny down on his good foot and he leaned against the side of the building while Steve inspected the padlock.

“Really? Now is when you decide to pick a lock?” Danny asked his teeth chattering. “Just kick it in already.”

Steve looked at him. “We’re going to want the door to close the wind out.”

Danny sighed and wrapped his arms around himself. He watched as Steve pulled a set of lock picks out of his bag and fumbled with them, trying to get the padlock open. Danny knew that he was much better at picking locks but his hands were numb and clumsy. Not to mention that he was still shivering badly.

He was also starting to feel nauseated. He leaned his head back against the wall where the roof gave a bit of shelter and closed his eyes, trying not to throw up. The next thing he knew, Steve was gently touching his shoulder. The door was open and Steve carefully helped him into the building and firmly shut the door behind them.

The absence of noise inside was almost deafening. Sure, Danny could still hear the storm roaring outside but it seemed so much quieter in here without the wind blowing in his ears.

He glanced at Steve and was shocked to find that he was in the process of pulling off his shirt. Danny could feel his face flush at the sight of Steve’s bare chest. “What are you doing!?”

“We have to get out of our wet clothes,” Steve said, as if it were obvious. “Both of us.”

“There is no way I am getting naked,” Danny said shaking his head.

“Danny,” Steve said patiently, “you’re teeth are chattering. This might be the tropics but hypothermia is still possible and you are in the early stages.”

“Damn it,” Danny muttered. As much as he hated it, he knew that Steve was right so he began pulling off his own shirt. “Is there anything good about this damn island?”

Steve wisely didn’t reply. Instead he moved forward and bent down to begin untying Danny’s shoes. Danny wanted to push him away but he was having a hard enough time making his fingers grasp the bottom of his shirt.

Once Steve had untied his shoes, he stood up and unbuckled Danny’s belt. Steve pulled his pants down and then lifted his bad leg so that he could pull the shoe off. As soon as the knee bent Danny cried out at the sharp pain. He gritted his teeth until the worst of the pain passed, then looked down and saw that his knee was at least three times its normal size.

Steve left Danny’s other shoe on and helped him slide down the wall, keeping his bad leg straight out in front of him. Once he was down, he leaned his head back and closed his eyes while Steve finished undressing him, thankfully leaving his boxers where they were. The entire situation was mortifying. He must have really pissed off the wrong person.

A few moments later, Danny heard rustling and opened his eyes to see Steve, wearing nothing but his own boxers, bent over searching through the boxes that were stacked in the corner. Danny was mesmerized by the sight. He couldn’t tear his eyes away from Steve’s perfect ass and was suddenly very grateful for the hypothermia because it kept his body from reacting in a very embarrassing way. At the moment he’d take clumsy fingers and violent shivering if it meant no erections either.

He swallowed hard. “What are you looking for?”

“This,” Steve said standing up and turning around. He held what looked like a tarp out in front of him.

“A tarp?”

“It’s close enough to a blanket,” Steve replied moving over to sit extremely close to Danny. He was so close that their hips touched.

Danny frowned at Steve. “Personal space much?”

Steve rolled his eyes. “Sit up.”

Danny wanted to ignore him for the principle of it, but before he knew what was happening Steve had wrapped an arm around his shoulders and leaned him forward. He let go of Danny for long enough to slide the tarp behind their backs and wrap it completely around them both. Once Steve had the tarp in place he put his arm back around Danny and pulled him close.

“So we’re cuddling now?” Danny asked his voice strained. The last thing he needed was to be cuddled by a nearly naked Steve. It was distracting. He didn’t resist though. It was too blessedly warm to resist. And besides, a traitorous part of him wanted an excuse to touch Steve like this.

Steve sighed. “You know as well as I do that you have to warm up and this is the best way to do it.”

Danny did know that. He’d had search and rescue training back in New Jersey. But that didn’t mean he had to admit it. “The best way would be a warm bed, some hot water bottles, and a bowl of soup.”

“All of which are readily available,” Steve said sarcastically.

They lapsed into silence. Danny was tired and just wanted to go to sleep but he was afraid that if he did he would somehow reveal something to Steve. It would be just his luck to wake up warm and with a boner pressed right against Steve’s leg, so he did his best to stay awake. He tensed his muscles and tried to keep as much space between them as he could.

“Will you relax?” Steve asked, exasperated.

“I am relaxed,” Danny lied.

Steve sighed heavily but didn’t press the point.

Despite Danny’s best efforts it didn’t take long before he was too tired to resist the temptation that the warm body beside him was providing. He was having trouble remembering why he ever wanted to in the first place and slowly, without even realizing he was doing it at first, he began to lean into Steve. He wrapped one arm around Steve’s stomach and laid his head on Steve’s chest.

“Good fit,” he whispered, nearly asleep.

“What?”

“Me. Here. S’nice.” Danny nuzzled his face against Steve for a moment then drifted off.

**

Steve stared down at Danny as he slept. Danny was right. He did seem to fit perfectly under Steve’s arm which was a thought that he wasn’t ready to examine too closely.

He sighed and leaned his head back against the wall. He couldn’t believe how close he’d come to losing Danny today. If he hadn’t found him when he did things would be a lot worse than a twisted knee and mild hypothermia. The hypothermia worried him more than the knee. The knee could keep until they got out of here but the hypothermia was another story. Danny was still cold--too cold--but the shivering had nearly stopped. He should make a relatively quick recovery now that they were out of the wind and rain. But if they hadn’t been able to find shelter...

Steve tightened his arms around Danny

“You planning to squeeze me to death?” Danny mumbled. “I do like to breath on occasion.”

Steve relaxed his arms a little. “Sorry.”

“Steve?” Danny asked sleepily.

“Yes?”

Danny shook his head, the stubble on his cheek scratching Steve’s chest. “Never mind.”

Steve frowned. Danny never hesitated. He always just blurted out his thoughts. “What is it?”

Danny sighed, his breath hot against Steve’s skin. “I was just--are you with Jenna?”

Steve blinked. He wasn’t expecting that. “No. Why would you think that?”

“Oh I don’t know? Because you spend every minute of your free time with her?” Danny sat up and pulled away from Steve.

“Jealous?” Steve smiled, half joking.

Danny dropped his eyes and didn’t respond. Steve’s smile faded. Danny really was jealous. Suddenly it wasn’t funny anymore.

“Danny,” Steve asked softly, “Why did you come up here today?”

Danny shrugged.

“Danny?” Steve pressed.

“Frankie Martinez,” Danny whispered.

“What? Who’s that?”

“My first crush. Seventh grade baseball camp,” Danny replied his eyes closed. “You should have seen him swing a bat.”

“What does that have to do--” Steve started but snapped his mouth shut. Danny had said his first crush was on another boy. That was interesting.

Steve shook his head. No matter how curious he was, Steve was certain that this wasn't a conversation that Danny would be having under normal circumstances. Danny was half asleep and suffering from hypothermia. Steve knew that no matter how alert he had seemed earlier, confusion was a symptom. He’d experienced it first hand during his cold water SEAL training, and it wouldn’t be fair to take advantage of that vulnerability.

He reached out and put his arm around Danny again. "You don't know what you're saying. Go back to sleep."

Thankfully, Danny didn’t resist and almost immediately his breathing deepened. Steve leaned his own head back against the wall and tried his best to ignore the elephant in the room but it was no use. Whether he’d meant to or not, Danny had basically just come out to him and Steve didn’t know how he felt about it.

It shouldn’t change anything. It _didn’t_ change anything that mattered. Danny was still the same person he was ten minutes ago. He was a tough cop, a good partner, and Steve’s closest friend. None of that had changed. Danny was still Danny.

But Steve on the other hand was having to realign his world view. He’d just learned that his seemingly straight partner--the man who’d been married and was still half in love with his ex, the man who never missed a chance to gawk at a pretty woman--was into guys and he wasn’t sure what that _meant_.

Steve wasn’t a stranger to issues of sexuality. His own could be described as complicated. In high school he had occasionally found himself admiring his teammates the same way he would the cheerleaders. He’d found tight uniform pants just as appealing as short skirts, but he had done his best to suppress it, afraid of disappointing his already distant father.

His whole life back then had been about trying to get his father’s attention. Hell, that had been half the reason he’d gone out for football in the first place. But no matter how much attention he would have gotten by announcing that he thought Jerry’s ass looked amazing in the huddle, he knew it wouldn’t be the good kind. His father had been a lot of things but understanding wasn’t one of them. So he’d kept his mouth shut and focused his attention on the cheerleaders.

Then once he’d decided to join the Navy he hadn’t had the option of addressing his sexuality--even if he’d wanted to--so he did his best to bury it even from himself. After all, he liked women well enough. He could get by. It was a plan that worked until he’d met Josh.

Steve had been fresh out of the academy and a bit overwhelmed by life on an aircraft carrier--not that he would ever have admitted that to anyone. Josh had been one of his bunk mates and a few years older. He’d taken Steve under his wing and helped him adjust. Before Steve had even realized what was happening, close friendship and admiration had turned into passion. Mutual passion.

It had been an intense relationship, heightened by its forbidden nature. And it was forbidden for so many reasons. Not only were same-sex relationships strictly prohibited but fraternization between fellow sailors was also against the rules. There was no privacy on an aircraft carrier so they’d had to be very careful, limiting themselves to stolen moments.

Steve scrubbed at his face with his free hand. His affair with Josh hadn’t lasted long. Josh had been outed by another sailor--so much for not asking--and been discharged under Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Steve knew that he had been incredibly lucky that he hadn’t been found out and had been extremely careful after that. He hadn’t been with a man since Josh and had done his best not to even _think_ about it. Until now.

Steve looked down at Danny. Danny was the only good thing in his life. Before Danny his whole life had consisted of work. Everything had been ordered and controlled. But Danny had come along and changed all of that with one punch. He had turned Steve’s world upside down and had somehow become the center of it. Danny was more than his friend and more than his partner. When he was with Danny he felt more alive. Everything about Danny was _more_. Steve wasn’t stupid, he knew what that meant. He just had never imagined that Danny might feel the same way.

Of course he still didn’t know how Danny felt. Just because Danny liked men didn’t mean that he liked Steve. He was probably reading too much into the question about Jenna. He was probably reading too much into everything. The best course of action would be to pretend like nothing had happened, because the last thing Steve wanted to do was mess up their friendship more than he already had with his neglect the last several weeks.

Steve sighed. He needed to focus on the important things. As soon as the storm let up he would contact Chin to send a helicopter and get Danny to a hospital. Once Danny was on the mend he could worry about everything else.

**

“What were you thinking?!” Rachel exclaimed. “Going up there by yourself like that? Were you trying to leave Grace without a father?”

Danny winced and held the phone away from his ear. He was going to kill whoever had called Rachel. There had been no reason to bother her and Grace in England.

“Grace was terrified. They told us that you were missing and we didn’t hear anything else for twelve hours. Twelve hours Daniel! And then we were told you were in the hospital with hypothermia. Hypothermia in Hawaii!”

Danny sighed. “Trust me it wasn’t my idea of a good time. Can I speak to her?”

Rachel didn’t respond but a moment later he was greeted by the very worried voice of his angel.

“Danno?”

“Hey, Monkey!” Danny said brightly, forcing as much cheer into his voice as he could. “Your mom said you were worried about me.”

“Yeah,” Grace said quietly. “They said you were missing and then you were in the hospital. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Danny said. It was mostly true. He glanced at his knee. Grace didn’t need to know that he was going to be having surgery. It would just make her worry more. “But they’re keeping me in the hospital for a little while just to be safe.”

“Are you scared?” Grace asked. “Hospitals are scary.”

Danny smiled. Grace had had her tonsils out last year and it had terrified her. “They are a little. But I’m okay.”

“You aren’t alone are you?” Grace asked. “Do you want me to come home early so you don’t have to be alone?”

Danny glanced into the hall where Steve was sitting in a chair just outside the door. “I really appreciate that but I’m not alone. Steve’s here with me.”

“Okay,” Grace said. “I love you Danno.”

“I love you too, Monkey. I need to get off here but I’ll talk to you soon. Have fun with your grandparents.”

Once Grace had hung up he set his cell phone onto the bedside table and returned his gaze to Steve. Danny had been awake for a few hours now and Steve hadn’t moved from his spot outside the door. In fact, Danny was pretty sure that he hadn’t moved a single muscle. Chin and Kono had both been in to visit him, hell even Kamekona had made an appearance, but Steve hadn’t even said a word. He wasn’t sure what his problem was but now that the constant stream of doctors and visitors was over he was going to get to the bottom of it.

“Hey,” Danny called. “You planning to stay out there all night?”

Steve lifted his head and looked at Danny. Even from this distance, Danny could see that there were dark circles under his eyes and that he looked almost scared. Danny had seen a lot of emotions on Steve’s face but until today he’d never seen fear.

“I can leave if you want,” Steve said quietly.

“Like hell you will!” Danny exclaimed. He struggled into a sitting position, wincing as his knee shifted. “Get in here.”

Steve stood up but stayed in the doorway. “Do you need more pain meds?”

“I’d rather be awake,” Danny replied. “Now get in here already.”

Steve sighed but walked in to stand next to Danny’s bed.

Danny frowned up at him and gestured at the chair next to the bed. “Will you sit down? I don’t need a crick in my neck on top of everything else.”

Steve sat down and began to look around the room. He managed to look everywhere but at Danny.

“What’s your problem?” Danny asked. When Steve didn’t answer he decided to cut to the chase. “Is this because I told you about Frankie?”

That got Steve’s attention. He jerked his head up and finally looked at Danny. “You remember that?”

“Of course I remember, I wasn’t _that_ out of it.” Danny took a deep breath. “I didn’t mean to say it. Most cops don’t share that sort of thing. But it just came out.”

“So you do--you do like men?” Steve asked.

“Is that a problem?” Danny asked, forcing himself to hold Steve’s gaze. “Because, you’re a lot of things but I never thought you were a bigot.”

Steve broke eye contact and slumped back into the chair. “Did you know that when you’re on an aircraft carrier you rarely actually see the ocean? You spend all of your time in cramped metal rooms.”

Danny opened his mouth to ask him what the hell he was talking about but the look on Steve’s face stopped him. It wasn’t often that Steve talked about his past and whatever he was saying, it was important to him. If Danny interrupted him he was afraid he wouldn’t start again.

“I hadn’t expected it to affect me the way it did. Four years in the academy didn’t prepare me for it.” Steve paused and took a deep breath. “I don’t know how I would have coped without Josh.”

“Josh?” Danny prompted when Steve didn’t continue.

Steve shook his head and continued in an emotionless tone of voice. “He and I had a relationship of sorts that ended when he was discharged under Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

Danny’s eyes opened wide. “So, not a bigot?”

“No not a bigot.” Steve replied. He looked at Danny. “So what did Frankie have to do with you being up on that mountain anyway?”

Danny felt his face flush. “Frankie? Not too much really. I was a bit delirious when I said that.”

Steve raised one eyebrow in disbelief.

Danny sighed. He wasn’t really ready for this conversation but he couldn’t hide from it anymore. Maybe it was time to just put all of his cards out on the table. “Okay fine. You want to embarrass me? I was up there because you took me there. It reminds me of you.”

“So you _were_ jealous,” Steve said, his lips quirking up.

“Yes Steven, I was jealous. We used to do things. We used to talk. I can’t stand the fact that you go to her instead of me.” Danny said, waving his arm at Steve. “But that doesn’t mean anything. I am a professional. I wouldn’t let my feelings for you interfere with--”

Steve started laughing.

“Why are you laughing? This isn’t funny. What can you possibly find funny?”

Danny crossed his arms and glared at Steve.

Steve stopped laughing and took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. It’s just you almost died of hypothermia because of your feelings. I’d call that interfering.”

“I’m glad you find it amusing,” Danny said stiffly, hurt that Steve would laugh at him after what he’d just admitted.

Steve’s smile dropped at Danny’s tone. “Danny, I’m sorry, it’s not funny. I’m not laughing at you. I was just so worried.”

“And sometimes you just have to laugh,” Danny finished for him. And really it was sort of funny when he thought about it. He’d almost died of hypothermia in the tropics. You couldn’t make that shit up.

Steve nodded. “But Danny, I am sorry that I’ve been distant. Sometimes I get focused on something and forget the rest of the world. But I could never replace you. Not with anybody.”

Steve leaned forward and carefully reached out to touch the back of Danny’s hand. Danny stared at Steve’s hand for a moment before slowly turning his own so that their palms met. Giving Steve plenty of time to back out, he twined their fingers together and squeezed gently.

“So?” Danny asked hesitantly, looking at their joined hands. “What does this mean?”

“I don’t know,” Steve said. “But when you’re out of the hospital how about we go out for a beer and talk about it?”

“Okay,” Danny said, his voice thick with emotion. He cleared his throat and grinned at Steve. “But you’re paying.”

“Why am I paying?” Steve asked indignantly.

“You asked. You pay.” Danny replied, relieved for the familiar rhythm of their banter. “Besides you owe me at least four rain checks.”

“Three,” Steve countered. “I’ll pay for the next three but then its your turn.”

“Okay,” Danny grinned. “But I’m going to check your pockets for your wallet.”

“What? You can’t trust me?” Steve feigned offense.

“Babe, I trust you with everything but the check.” Danny said fondly as he gently ran his thumb along Steve’s knuckles.


End file.
